Ebay bookings?

[Mom B]

Has anyone out there booked accommodations on property
thru ebay? The auctions for a week at Old Key West (or
occasionally the other Vacation Club resorts) look really pretty
reasonable. I've contacted some of the sellers to find out
whether they can access slots other than those offered, or
if multiple rooms would be available for the same dates.
I've gotten some positive responses and am really tempted.

I'm assuming that doing this would be pretty similar to renting
poings from a VC member. The main things that concern me
are the extra "risks" involved...for one, dealing with a total
stranger over the internet, and secondly, what if something
goes wrong and we can't go and we lose all the money we
invested. I'm trying to SAVE money here, after all.

Any comments or advice? Is this a bad idea?

 

[Kaa]

Have you investigated the DVC Boards on this website? There is one that strictly deals with renting/trading points. The owner would have a set price, and you wouldn't be bidding against another person, possibly driving up the cost.

Good Luck!

 

[DisneyKidds]

Thru the DVC Boards on this site you may be able to find someone to rent points from. If you rent points you are likely to pay about $10 per point.

All the listings on eBay are typically for 5 nights arriving on a Sunday and are typically during the less crowded seasons. The way DVC works is that the points required for week nights (Sun - Thurs) are much less than those required for weekends (Fri - Sat). While you may see many of the listings at about $500 (which would be very reasonable) most have a reserve of $700 or more. If you were to determine the number of points required for some of those listings you would find that at $700 you are paying a lot more than the $10 per point you can get by renting.

At $700 or so for 5 nights you would be paying about $140 per night. This is a good rate at DVC resorts compared to rack rates, especially when you consider that you don't have to pay any taxes on the DVC rental thru eBay. However, if you are willing to invest a little time in trying to find someone to rent from you may be able to do better.

I watch the eBay listings. If one came up for a time we needed and I could actually get a 5 night stay for $500 to $600 I would go for it. At $700 plus I would skip it and look to rent points.